Worthy

Worthy is a huge concept. To me, it simply means ‘of worth.’ Every human being is of worth. Worth what? But we’re people. That question applies to a family heirloom or a gold ring, not to humans. We are worthy. We are worthy of the greatest the human condition can offer. We are worthy of the human rights accorded to us by virtue of our existence. Worthy.

Worth considering. Worth loving. Worth respecting. Worth listening to. Worth being. Worth everything that some groups with privilege take for granted as their right, but see fit to deny to others. If you demand you be recognised as a man, but maintain that I am not to be recognised as an agender person? You are denying my right to have my self recognised. You are denying the fact that I am worth it by virtue of my humanity.

How hard can it be, to realise that every human being has worth? We – the marginalised, the oppressed – we have had our human worth denied to our faces time and again. We have been denigrated, devalued, belitted, denied and wounded. We have been failed, we have been sinned against. And we are still being targeted by hatred, by fear, by intolerance.

That is wrong. And it is so hard, to stand firm in the face of the howling storm that wants to bring us down and to say, ‘No. I will not fall. I have worth, and you will not deny me my worth, my value, my humanity, the unique selection of traits that has made me who I am. You will not bring me down.’ It is so hard, and yet every day, so many of us do it. It can be done, although there is no shame, no weakness in turning away. There are others around us who will stand and hold the line while others must retreat.

We are worthy. We have worth, value, humanity, beauty, power, strength, life. By virtue of our lives, we have all these things, and anyone attempting to deny us that is wrong.